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able. And yet we are told, and told by Him who cannot err, that the world and God cannot be served together. It is a text, therefore, which demands anxious examination.

Now, to a certain extent, a man may serve two masters, i.e. he may do some service to both. If their wishes do not disagree; if their interests are one; if they only want a part of his service, a man may be useful to two masters: or if one engages always to give way, when his services are required by the other.

And so it is with regard to God and the world. In truth, no man can discharge his duty to God, without doing some service to the world; and he will do this world the best service, who is the truest servant of God. A man cannot provide for his own household; he cannot be industrious in his calling; he cannot exercise his vocation, whether by the labour of his hands, or the labour of his mind; without at the same time serving the world. And all these he is required to do. Christians are instructed to "maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful." And whoever serves God best, I will do the world most service: in whatever station he may be, he will be the most valuable member of society: he will be of all men the most useful and most profitable.

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But this the text declares, that no man can devote himself to two masters; can engage himenter into the service of two.

self to two; can

3 Tit. iii. 14.

And in this sense it is, that ye cannot serve God and mammon. How should ye? God requires our full service. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." He requires that we enter solemnly into His service. As Elijah said to the Israelites, "If Baal be God, follow him: but if the Lord be God, then follow Him." And Christ Jesus expects of all, that they "take his yoke upon them." Further, God requires the devotion of the heart to Himself. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength." And the heart must have its ruling object: can be given but to one.

1. This will soon appear, if we consider the matter practically. In the case of the LORD'S DAY, for instance, God and mammon have separate interests. The one says, You cannot spare it from your worldly concerns: or, It is your day of leisure, and you must employ it in recreation. The other says, "Hallow my sabbaths." "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God."

Here then, in the very outset of a religious life, is a dispute between God and mammon: and whoever is engaged in the service of one, must displease the other.

2. It is the same, in the case of PLEASURES. Mammon commands us, to take our fill of pleasure; to rejoice in our youth; to follow our own

inclination, or the practices which prevail, without considering their nature, their tendency, their effect upon others, or upon ourselves. But Scripture enjoins, that we love the Lord our God with all our heart: forbids us to be "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God:" warns us to use the world as not abusing it:" to abstain from every appearance of evil; and "whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, to think on these things."

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Here, again, we are called to choose whom we will serve. Those who are really serving God, must give up many things which the world calls pleasures, and which worldly people seek as pleasures. We cannot serve both God and

mammon.

3. So likewise in regard to wealth, and all other temporal advantages. Those who serve mammon, will seek them first: those who serve God, will moderate their desire of them: will engage in worldly business so far and no farther, as shall be consistent with God's service; and as shall leave the mind free for reflection, and serious reading, and habitual prayer. Their character is moderation: and their reason," the Lord is at hand."

4. I shall mention but one more case, in which the commands of God and mammon are contrary to one another. Mammon requires us to conceal our religious feelings and senti

ments, whenever they are warmer or stricter than others entertain. Mammon approves of decency in religion, but discountenances zeal. God, on the contrary, commands us to "let our light shine before men:" to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them :" not to be conformed to this world, but to be crucified to it through the cross of Christ. And where there is this opposition between the two masters, you must decide: not for the sake of singularity, but for the sake of sincerity not for the sake of a loud profession, but for the sake of a substantial reality in your religion. If you are the servant of God, you must be on the Lord's side. If you are the servant of God, you must avow His cause: must promote the interests of His gospel must not only pray, but labour, that His kingdom may be extended, and His ways made known on earth by your active exertions, as well as by your eminent example, you must both serve Him yourself, and strive to enlarge the number of those by whom He is served.

LECTURE LIX.

PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.

LUKE XVI. 19-31.

19. "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.

20. "And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

21. "And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores."

THE Connexion in which this parable is found, explains its object. Our Lord had been showing the necessity of using the good things of this world, as faithful stewards: of "making to ourselves friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness." He had also declared the impossibility of serving both God and mammon: which implied a condemnation of the Pharisees, who were covetous; and who in their turn derided him. This leads him to unveil the scene, and open the prospect beyond this present world. If there were no such prospect, and all were to close here, why should not the atheist's maxim be pursued, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die?" But if "all must stand before the judgment-seat of God, to receive according to the things done in the body:" then take heed that ye be not like the rich man in this parable, who in his lifetime

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